World Cup cult hero who earned £227k a week went broke with just £597 in the bank

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A former Premier League cult hero came perilously close to losing everything after squandering the multi-million-pound wealth he had accumulated throughout his playing days. Asamoah Gyan was once one of the 10 best-paid players in world football only for things to change rapidly - and dramatically so.

The striker is perhaps most famous for his World Cup exploits in a Ghana shirt, having played for the Black Stars in 2006 and 2010. When Carlos Queiroz's class of 2026 take on England in Boston on Tuesday, many minds will be cast back to his infamous penalty miss against Uruguay in the 2010 quarter-final.

Gyan, now 40, began his career in his home country of Ghana before being snapped up by Udinese as a teenager. The striker made a considerable name for himself with the Italian club, as well as during a loan spell at Modena, before continuing to bang in the goals for Rennes and then Sunderland .

The move to England made him Sunderland's record signing and he netted 11 goals in 37 appearances, including a last-gasp equaliser against fierce rivals Newcastle . He didn't stay long, though, moving to Al-Ain in the UAE and then to Chinese side Shanghai SIPG, where he reportedly pocketed a staggering £227,000 per week wage to become the eighth-best paid player worldwide .

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Gyan even splashed out on a golden Rolls Royce before losing almost all of his fortune just a few years down the line. Back in 2018, he admitted he was virtually broke having gone unpaid for several months.

In an interview with Ghanaian media, he revealed his bank balance stood at just £597. "My front and back, up and down is that money you see there," he said.

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To compound his misery, Gyan had become entangled in an acrimonious annulment battle with his ex-wife. Their courtroom dispute involved accusations of infidelity and doubts over paternity, ultimately leading to DNA testing being carried out.

A court determined that Gyan was indeed the biological father of his three children. He was also instructed to surrender various assets to his former wife, including a property in the UK, a four-bedroom house in Ghana, a petrol station and two vehicles.

Gyan has since rebuilt his life and - as reported by Marca in 2024 - moved into a mansion in the Ghanaian capital of Accra. He is reported to have broadened his portfolio as a boxing promoter, philanthropist and food and drink entrepreneur.

The former footballer even established his own airline, Baby Jet, which was granted a licence to operate by the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority. However, the venture never took off and folded in 2019 without completing a single flight.

Gyan has also ventured into politics, aligning himself with the centre-right New Patriotic Party at one point. He later announced that he was distancing himself from the party in order to focus on his humanitarian efforts.

In a statement, he said: "I have not been fair to the youth and people of Ghana. From now on, I am not affiliated with any political party.

"I will continue my humanitarian work and help the youth of Ghana in my own small way. Nothing political. I wish all of the political parties a peaceful election. God bless our homeland."